


Living In my Mind Rent Free

by deedae



Category: Hit the Floor (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Fluff, Jude Centric, Jude overthinks, M/M, Pining, Softer Zero, Zero Tries, but hey it's about Jude, so a bit ooc, this one is for the overthinkers, tropey af
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-16
Updated: 2020-07-16
Packaged: 2021-03-05 06:27:10
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25299850
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/deedae/pseuds/deedae
Summary: Jude knows Zero, and the brunette is not going crazy despite what Racquel thinks. As much as some of the rumors were crazy there are some truth in some of them. He knows his best friend goes through relationships like paper being shredded and the blonde is never one for relationships. Processing all of that isn't easy when Zero decided to stay in his mind 24/7 the moment he got in there. Jude’s so fucked.orJude's so in his head.
Relationships: Jude Kinkade/Zero | Gideon
Comments: 9
Kudos: 48
Collections: Zude





	Living In my Mind Rent Free

**Author's Note:**

> had to do something for my Zude boys and here's that something. enjoy!

Jude didn’t want it to be this way. The last thing he expected to happen when he was told he had to tutor Zero, the Dela Rosa star basketball player, was to fall in love with him. Yes, he may charming blue eyes that would make anyone swoon, a smile that could make any rainy day go away and a body hand-sculpted by god that may or may not have been the star of multiple fantasies Jude would like to keep to himself.

But that didn’t mean he’d drop his pants and bend over at the sight of the blonde player like most people in this school would do. Although if asked, Jude _might_ do it. But he’ll never admit that.

Jude groans and drops his head onto the table. The whirlwind of thoughts about the blonde making him tired.

“Hey Jude, you alright over there?” a voice cuts into his thoughts, grabbing his attention.

Jude looks up to the voice, coming out of his zone and remembering where he was and is met by a set of blue eyes that terrorize his mind daily. Jude is in the library, helping Zero with his math project the basketball player just couldn’t wrap his blond head around. A random comment Zero said that Jude can’t even remember at this point had his zone out staring at a closed book. Said player is currently looking at him across the table with an amused smirk, bleached blonde hair styled to perfection and wearing a tight red t-shirt that has no business making him look so good and Jude wants to do nothing else but kiss him breathless, which doesn’t really help with his current internal crisis.

The silence of the brunette makes Zero’s smile turn nervous and his face starts to show concern.

“Jude, I know this isn’t the place but you know you can talk to me right?” Zero says with barely hidden worry. “You seem to be going through something right now, I can just go.” The blonde adds with a tone Jude can’t understand.

_If only you knew_. Jude thought.

The words of Zero start to settle into his ears as Jude got his shit together internally only to lose it again at the thought of Zero leaving.

“N-No, no you’re fine. I’m fine” Jude shakes his head hastily. Which only makes the blond raise his eyebrow in confusion.

Jude takes a deep breath “You don’t need to go. I was just somewhere”

Zero opens his mouth to say something but closes it seemingly okay and over the conversation.

Jude takes it as a chance to have an internal breath of relief and starts getting back to work on Zero’s project. He sits up on his chair and starts going through the papers.

But knowing Zero at this point, the brunette should’ve known the basketball player wouldn’t let him go that easily.

“If you’re thinking about my glorious abs I can just show you.” Zero mischievously smirks at Jude, “Anytime, you know I don’t mind. Here let me help you out” Zero stands up and goes through the motion of taking his shirt off and Jude considers if his fate was to die in a public library.

“Do that and I’ll quit” Jude glares at Zero who’s looking down at him, smug.

This only makes Zero more smug as he laughs and seats back down. Smiling at Jude with a smile that he’s only seen when it’s just the two of them.

“You love me too much to quit” Zero teasingly bites back after his annoying (yet adorable) laugh.

_I do_. Jude thinks as he shakes his head ignoring how his heart aches at Zero’s smile, painfully knowing what it means.

\--------

Zero has a reputation. As the star basketball player of Dela Rosa’s Angels Basketball team, the rumors and gossip about him were endless. From Zero is an egotistical asshole to Zero is a man whore, name it Zero has been called it.

When a man like that ended up being best friends with the quiet top of the class student, Jude Kinkade, sent the school crazy.

It’s not like Jude is not surprised by this either. When they had their first tutoring session together Jude got exactly what he expected from the player. An asshole basketball player who believes he’s the shit and has no need for a tutor. But Jude was not one to ever back down.

It took months of arguments about nothing and everything (Kyle tiredly called it a lover’s quarrel once after the countless times of hearing Jude complain about Zero. Jude just walked out of the room) and Zero finding Jude with a black eye sitting on a bench outside after school for them to be good. He doesn’t know why Zero took him to Jude’s house and stayed with Jude until he got better, considering at the time they barely tolerated each other. Zero didn’t even ask what happened, he just took care of him with a strange look to his eyes, and the silence was comfortable enough that Jude was the one that spilled on what happened to him.

Things between them became even better after Jude opened up about his absent father during a tense tutoring session, and surprisingly Zero opened up about his parents too. Hearing about the story behind Zero’s name prompted Jude to ask for Zero’s real name, although Zero did not answer. Jude was disappointed, but he’ll take any win he can when it comes to Zero.

Ever since that day, Zero acted differently to Jude. The blonde became more genuine, open, and carefree with Jude whereas with others he remained his cocky arrogant self. That should make Jude feel annoyed by how the player treats others but he can’t. Because he understands why Zero does it and maybe enjoys the special treatment the blonde gives him more than he should.

Somewhere between all of that, Jude just fell in love. He doesn’t know when but with all that being said, he definitely knows why. And maybe, just maybe Zero could feel the same too.

However, Jude knows Zero, and the brunette is not going crazy despite what Racquel thinks. As much as some of the rumors were crazy there is some truth in some of them. He knows his best friend goes through relationships like paper being shredded and the blonde is never one for commitment. Processing all of that isn't easy when Zero decided to stay in his mind like a 24/7 Mcdonalds at 3 am the moment he got in there. Jude’s so fucked. He’s also never seen zero with a man. That lessens the brunette’s chances of _ever_ getting the chance to jump-

“-shut up, dude. Man please just shut up already” he hears TK say with an exasperated tone.

“What? I wasn’t saying anything” Jude coming out of his thoughts on the defensive from hearing TK’s voice.

“You’re always in there you know,” TK moves closer to Jude to tap the brunette’s forehead “and being in there all the time means sometimes you do something you can’t control.” TK paused. Making Jude more confused.

TK sighs, moving away from Jude. Focusing back on the work in front of him, realizing Jude was so in deep he had no idea that- “You seriously didn’t notice how you were just talking to yourself? Letting Zero stay in your mind like that for free is bad for real estate you know.”

Jude's eyes widened in panic “What!? No one else heard me did they?”

The brunette looked around the classroom seeing the teacher busy with another table and his classmates busy on their phones or working on the project and clearly haven’t heard a single word from Jude.

This calms Jude a little as he closes his eyes and releases a deep sigh of relief. The brunette relaxes onto his seat until TK hits him with a crumpled piece of paper.

“Yeah, good no one heard you. If they did they’ll be as tired as I am from hearing it. Now get back to work. I sat next to you for your brains, not your problems” 

“You’re such a great friend _Tyler_ ”, TK groans, “I thought you liked hearing about Zero? I recall you saying once ‘ _yeah, keep that juicy shit coming I’m all ears_ ’” Jude sat up getting back to work but not before throwing the crumpled paper back at TK (and definitely not missing). 

“It was fun hearing you talk about him for two weeks, now I’m just concerned for your mental health”

“Aww and here I thought you’re only sticking with me for my amazing and talented brain.” Jude says with a very fake gooey tone, making baby eyes at TK.

Bemused, TK replies “and that includes your brain, dummy. Aren’t you at the top of the class? Let’s focus on this if you want to stay on there you big baby”

Jude rolls his eyes and chuckles “Shut up”

They fall into a comfortable silence, only talking about what to do and what to do next. Jude in a lighter mood than before, despite the chaos a certain blonde man has caused, at least he got people like TK who has his back.

\--------

Time passed quickly as TK and Jude work together and when the bell rings they pack up and leave the room together walking into the corridor.

What Jude doesn’t expect is to see Zero leaning against the wall outside his class in the corridor waiting for him. It’s not the first time Zero has done it but yet Jude never expects it every time. And his heart happily skips through a flower field every time he sees the player waiting for him.

Zero never fails to make Jude’s mouth dry as the blonde is currently wearing tight black jeans, the same tight red t-shirt from the last time he saw him, and a black leather jacket (Jude asked once why does Zero always wore the same jacket and to that Zero simply said “Because you said it looks good on me”. Jude’s face was definitely _not_ permanently red that entire day).

The brunette thinks he’s actually going crazy when he hears Lover by Taylor Swift out of nowhere as Zero starts to approach them until he realizes TK started singing a horrible rendition of the song quietly so that only the two of them can hear.

Jude glares at TK, seeing the mischievous look in his eyes, but before he could shut his friend up TK glances at Zero before landing his eyes back on Jude. “I think I saw Carlos. See you.” TK winks at Jude, giving Zero a small wave. Turning around leaving Jude to stare at his friend’s back disappearing into the crowded corridor.

“What was that about?” Jude looks back at Zero and is faced with the blonde’s mouth in a thin line, eyebrows furrowed, staring into the crowd TK disappeared to like Zero can still see him.

Zero sounded a bit angry too. Why would he be? Oh no, did Jude do something that upset Zero? What did he do? Was it when he said-

“Who was he? I've never seen him before” Zero looking at Jude weirdly, holding the brunette’s arm in a way Jude can only describe as possessive.

Wait, is Zero jealous? No, that’s impossible. Jude is way in over his head right now. “He’s uh, TK Strand, he's new and a-uh, a friend of mine.” Jude says cautiously. Gauging how Zero would react.

Zero doesn’t seem satisfied as he moves closer to Jude crowding him to the wall and places his hand on the wall next to the brunette’s head. Jude is a bit taller than Zero but right now you’d think Zero was 10 inches tall.

“Just a friend?” Zero asks staring into his soul, faces so close to each other that he can feel the blonde’s breath.

Fuck. Jude notices how over Zero’s shoulder that the hallway is empty meaning that he’s probably late for his next class but this is more important right now.

“Yeah, just a friend Zero.” Jude surprised at how steady he is.

The brunette’s eyes flick to Zero’s lips and bites his own instinctively. This makes Zero groan and Jude's eyes snap back to the pair of blue, noticing how the blonde has been staring at his lips.

Double Fuck. Jude’s pants start the tighten at the sight and Jude tries to think of anything but how it’d feel if Zero devoured his mouth right here, right now.

Jude sees Zero thinking through his eyes then Zero backs off, Jude already missing the close proximity and barely holding back a whine. Zero smiles at him like nothing happened.

“That’s good. Hope it stays that way.” The blonde looks at him seriously before slipping back into a cheerful grin as he grabs Jude’s arm.

“We’re already late. Let’s dip” before Jude can even reply Zero is already dragging him out of school. Jude just allows the blonde to drag him as he’s still caught on what just happened.

Now, what was that about?

\------

“It’s Gideon” Zero mutters quietly, like he was hoping not to be heard, but Jude still caught it.

Jude looks away from his essay and locks eyes with Zero, “What?”

“Nothing... it’s nothing.” Zero dejectedly looks away from Jude, deciding the plain ceiling of Jude’s room is the most interesting thing to look at right now. “No, what’s ‘Gideon’?” If there was any time to take a break from essay writing Jude thinks it’s now.

Zero doesn’t reply from where he’s sitting, on the floor back to Jude’s bed, head laying on the edge of the bed, and continues staring at the ceiling. Sensing something is wrong with his best friend, Jude stands up from his desk, walks over to Zero, and plops down next to him.

“Zero,” Jude says hoping to get the blonde to look at him, “talk to me. What’s up?”

With a deep sigh, Zero turns his head to the side face Jude, locking eyes with him, “Gideon is uh, Gideon is my name”.

That is the absolutely last thing Jude expected 'Gideon' to be. Honestly, Jude thought Zero was just correcting him on his essay about Mcdonalds. And just like that Jude is at a loss, mind scrambling for what to say next. If Ze-Gideon doesn’t mind, the first thing the brunette wants to do is to lay on his bed face-down and scream into his pillow. Followed very closely by inviting Gideon into the same bed and kissing him until they both need air, which would be followed by another round of kisses.

He doesn’t know what to think about the overwhelming amount of trust he sees in the blonde’s blue eyes, and how much Zero trusts him to the point that he decides the reveal his real name to Jude. For Zero to even bother coming back to the question Jude asked months ago. He’s feeling all sorts of things, he’s overwhelmed, butterflies all over his body, he’s in so love.

“Gideon..” Jude says, testing the name on his lips.

Zero continues to look at him softly and Jude can’t help but smile.

“Nice to meet you Mr. Gideon, I’m Jude Kinkade.” Jude holds a hand out and Zero cracks a smile at that although he does his best to look annoyed.

“Shut up Jude. What are you, 12?” Zero says with no bite in his voice. If It wasn’t already obvious by how he failed to hide his huge grin.

“Mr. Gideon! That’s so rude!” Jude feigned hurt, “I’ll accept your apology if you don’t leave me hanging.” Jude shakes his arm, emphasizing how his hand is still out waiting for Zero.

Zero mutters an okay before he reciprocates the handshake Jude was waiting for and then hits him with a pillow that Jude failed the notice, too busy getting lost in the ocean blue eyes of the man he now knows as Gideon.

They get into a pillow fight that Jude would like to think he won but it ends with both of them laying next to each other on Jude’s bed (Jude tries his best not to think about it), staring at the ceiling catching their breath.

“Gideon?” Jude mumbles sleepily, exhaustion from the day, and he impromptu pillow fight catching up to him. But he needs the get it off his chest before it stays in his mind forever.

“Yeah?”

“Thank you, I mean it”

“I should be the one thanking you Jude…. You’ve done so much for me already, you’re just not aware of it.” Zero turns to face Jude “I think I-“

And Jude is asleep. The brunette’s hair messed up and pouting as he somehow fell into deep sleep that quick. Zero just smiles and whispers “I like you, Jude Kinkade”

\-----

When Jude wakes up, he’s alone and disappointment starts to settle in until he realizes that he’s under the covers and he’s wearing more comfortable clothing that he didn’t remember having on before sleeping. The thought of Zero tucking him in and making sure he was comfortable was enough to make him scream into his pillow.

So he did.

After the healthy pillow screaming session, Jude rubbed his face in his hands and got up to his desk in order to continue his essay. However, Jude didn’t make any essay progress as he stopped and stared agape at the screen seeing the message Zero left for him in the middle of his essay.

_Thanks for everything – G_

Jude couldn’t bring himself to erase it despite the simple message being right in the middle of his essay paper.

He’s so in fucking love.

\------

Jude is aware of the effects of gossip and rumors. There are some people who would do anything to keep a secret a secret or clear their name from something ‘false’. The brunette may seem like the genuine boy next door at the surface but how do you think he stayed on top for so long with almost no genuine friends to lean on? It’s simple, there are people in Dela Rosa High that love to not mind their own business, and that always ends up coming back to them. Jude’s there to make sure they keep their mouth shut or open, depending on what he needs to happen.

There have been people who tried to call out Jude’s actions and they’ve always failed. Words falling into deaf ears because there’s no way Jude Kinkade would do something like that would he? And as a Kinkade, those people always got what’s coming to them.

It’s a bit intense for a high schooler but it’s something Jude has to do and he does it naturally. Jude just needs to graduate on top so he could get to LA. He has no regrets, not really caring what those people think of him at this point. Especially when Jude only cares for what a certain blonde basketball player thinks of him.

So learning that Zero cares about what people think about him surprises Jude.

“Then you are aware of what people say about you right?” Jude looks at Zero, not expecting the man to care about what kind of reputation he has.

“I said to an extent, Jude. I care about what people think about me to an extent”

“I heard it the first time. It doesn’t change what I said” Jude says confused yet steady in his conviction.

They’re at Jude’s house, sitting outside at the balcony after the tutoring session drinking beer. Staring into the darkness of the night filling the silence with the type of mindless conversation with Zero that Jude’s gotten used to and no longer can go without. The conversation went for a turn when Jude brought up the new stories people made up about Zero, leading Zero to turn sheepish and mumble that he cares about what people think about him… ‘to an extent’.

In Jude’s defense, the brunette thought both of them would end up laughing at the stories, calling it so out of this world and moving on. Like they usually do. 

Zero’s eyes downcast as he rubs the back of his neck, clearly wracking his brain on how to explain himself.

He’s aware of how difficult it is for Zero. Heck, it’s only recently Jude learned about Gideon.

Jude abandons his seat to walk over to the sofa the blonde is situated on and sits next to him. Shoulders touching and knees bumping. Nothing they haven’t done before but doesn’t change how intimate this is to Jude. Warm, that’s better. Jude thought then focuses on Zero, who’s currently looking out to the night but Jude can see the distress on his face.

Jude's heart aches thinking that he caused this to his blue-eyed wonder and the brunette wants to hold his hand, kiss the blonde, and comfort him.

But Jude focuses on the task at hand, his best friend who’s not good with expressing his feelings (sounds familiar) and shoves his feelings about Zero away. “Gid-“

“Do you believe what any of them say?” Zero interrupts Jude in a somewhat panicked tone and turns to look at the brunette, locking eyes with him and Jude is thrown off by the emotion in his best friend’s eyes.

“No. Of course not” Jude replied almost immediately, if he wasn’t so surprised by his best friend’s tone and what he sees in the blue eyes staring back at him he would have replied faster and already have something to say.

“Then why do you go stopping the rumors and what people say about me?” Zero says steadily yet it sounds like he’s holding something back “When Jelena tried to spread that I slept with prostitutes behind her back, they say you’re the reason it only lasted a day. Why?”

Jude’s heart drops. He avoids Zero’s gaze as he honestly doesn’t want to feel the heartbreak when he would see the anger in his eyes. Jude never expected this to come back to Zero. “I-I just thought- maybe-“

“Jude” Zero’s voice comes to him in the midst of the panicking. “Look at me”

The brunette avoids Zero’s gaze, not being able to look at Zero, scared that he ruined their relationship. Jude moves away from Zero and places his face in his hands. He doesn’t know what to do

“I-I’m sorry Gideon” Jude muttered brokenly.

When Zero remains silent, Jude’s heart broke further. It’s over. He feels the coldness of the night chill him all over.

Zero places his hand on top of Jude’s hand and uses his other free hand to hold the brunette’s chin, gently pulling him to face Zero, faces now close to each other. Jude didn’t realize he was shaking until Zero’s actions stilled him. Giving him a weird sense of calm as he looked into Zero’s eyes even though his mind is going on about how he’ll never see Gideon again.

Jude didn’t see the anger he expected to see in Zero’s eyes. He only saw warmth in the blue looking back at him. 

“Gideon?” Jude confused at the sight in front of him, Zero’s face soft with a forced smirk. If Jude didn’t know any better, he wouldn’t notice how Zero is trying his best not to send Jude into any more panic.

Zero must’ve noticed Jude’s confusion after a beat of silence as he squeezes Jude’s hand as a sign of reassurance. Zero removes the hand on Jude’s chin in favor of ruffling Jude’s hair “Do you remember what you told me that day?”. Jude tilts his head, confused. “What day?”. Zero shakes his head fondly, “The day my relationship with Jelena fell apart”

Jude searches his brain to remember, eyes widening at the memory of what he said. Jude brings his free hand to rub the back of his neck, smile turning shy as he’s unable to hold back his blush recalling the events of what happened. “I-I said that we’re in this together and that I would never leave you.”

He remembers that day clearly now. The brunette not being able to focus on anything that day, too worried about what Zero was possibly going through.

Zero’s smile turns a bit shy yet he maintains his gaze on Jude “And I told you that I wouldn’t know what I’d do without you.”. Jude let out a breath of relief he didn’t know he was holding and relaxes more in

“So talk to me-” Zero stops, resting his back onto the chair using his free hand to continue drinking the beer he left on the floor earlier but maintains his hold on Jude’s hand, chuckling as he starts to realize the situation they’re both in, “Jude you’re the only the only person who truly ever had my back.” Zero says firmly, looking at Jude with tenderness in his eyes, “I could never even have the thought that you’d do something to upset me behind my back”

“That’s not entirely true.” Jude leans back into chair glancing at Zero and mirroring the blonde’s position, the said blonde looking back into the night in front of then as Jude gets comfortable. Jude smiles at how this conversation is slowly turning out not to be the end of their friendship.

Zero laughs then Zero lifts his wraps his arm around Jude’s shoulders and gives his shoulder a little squeeze. Jude’s heart ache at the possibility that he could’ve lost this. “Well, not without reason at least”

“Having to lie to you for weeks in order to surprise you with that LA Devils game was a necessary sacrifice, what can I say?” Jude shrugs staring at their hands, still connected.

“Hey,” Zero tightens his hold on Jude’s shoulder and it catches Jude’s eyes. Jude immediately gets lost in the beauty that he has the blessing of calling his best friend. Zero looks absolutely breath-taking, the blonde looks dashing and absolutely striking every day of his life. But tonight, the mix of the moonlight and the dim light of Jude’s balcony that highlights Zero’s blue eyes, Zero’s small smile that’s only meant for him, and the way Zero is gazing at him, tonight is different.

“-now that we’ve established that I wouldn’t be mad at you, why did you stop those rumors? Even until now?” Zero cuts into his thoughts. Huh, He must’ve been lost his thoughts about Zero again. Zero really does live in his mind. Damn you, TK.

Jude sighs internally and gathers himself “You know why I did it Gideon.”, recognizing the teasing tone in Zero’s voice.

“Yeah, it doesn’t hurt to hear it though” Zero grins at him.

“I did all that because I couldn’t stand hearing what they say about you. I just had to do something, and you already know it’s what I do best.” Jude says genuinely, not caring if he’s giving into Zero’s games. Maybe it’s about time Jude said something about his feelings.

There’s something in Zero’s eyes, a look of Zero’s grin doesn’t falter, if anything it turns soft “It’s a crime how much I’ve fallen for you Jude” Zero says amazed, gazing into Jude’s eyes.

What? Wait. Did Zero really say that? He must’ve heard it wrong. There’s no way- What?? Zero, the man who is undoubtedly straight, the man who can have anyone he wants, the man who has the entire school’s panties in a twist with just one smile (Jude can fit in that category too if we’re being real here), the man who is his best friend, likes him? Without a doubt, he must’ve misheard it because-

“-Earth to Jude? Jude to Earth?” Zero taps Jude’s forehead.

“Yeah?” Jude says distractedly. Brain trying to process that Zero likes him, possibly even loves him. Zero moves back and that when he notices how Zero’s hand is no longer on his, where he would like it to be.

“I’d appreciate it if you said it back” Zero amused but his smile unwavering.

“Yeah, yeah I do too” Jude hurriedly gets out, not wanting to scare Zero off after a sudden confession like that. “You do what?” Zero starts teasingly, his smile regaining the shine the brunette would love to see all the time, and his eyes filled with love. 

Jude oddly comforted by Zero’s teasing tone takes a deep breath and says “Gid, I’ve fallen so hard for you too.” Locking eyes with Zero, hopefully conveying how much he loves him. Zero smiles couldn’t turn anymore genuine, eyes crinkling from the smile and Jude wants so badly to kiss the man.

So he did.

Surging forward and placing his hand at the back of the blonde’s head and pulling him into a kiss. Zero seemed surprised by the action but catches up quick as he reciprocates the kiss. Zero places his hand on Jude’s neck to pull the brunette closer and uses the arm still on Jude’s shoulder to hold him tighter. It’s everything Jude dreamed of and so much more. And damn, Zero’s such an amazing kisser. He’s aware of how good Zero is at this but experiencing it is something else entirely, it only makes Jude want more.

They need to talk about this; what does Zero really want from him? Did he really hear it right though? Is he willing to be in a relationship with Jude? When did Zero fall for him? and so many other questions pop up in his head. But for once in Jude’s life, he ignores what his head has to say and gets lost in Zero’s lips.

In return, Zero deepens the kiss.

Yeah, this feels right.

**Author's Note:**

> its my first fic in a while and i take criticism.  
> scream at me on twitter
> 
> edit: rereading this, this is kinda rough. that won't stop me from getting better and writing Zude thooo 😝😝


End file.
